Metric, Tokyo Police Club, the Dears, and Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains will join forces for the "Sounds of Canada" "Jingle Bell Rock" tour of Canadian cities this December. San Francisco DJ Mike Relm will also appear on the tour as its only non-Canuck act. A portion of ticket sales from "Jingle Bell Rock" will go to various charities that help children in need during the holidays.Grainger and the Dears both have headlining dates in support of recently released new albums before "Jingle Bell Rock" begins, but Tokyo Police Club are just chilling 'til their appearance on "Desperate Housewives".Metric, on the other hand, are just gearing up to release their follow-up to 2005's Live It Out. In a letter on the front page of their website, Metric call "Jingle Bell Rock" the "Help, I'm Alive Tour" after one of the new record's song titles, and they plan to debut the new album on the tour. They also say the album is finished and that they are looking at release dates "in the early part of next year."Metric's site also has a video featuring an interview with frontwoman Emily Haines talking about her writing process for the record and her time spent in Buenos Aires. She makes the new album sound like a re-focusing effort for the band, and the clips we get of "Help, I'm Alive" sound promising.read more